The 1967 Six Day War A little history lesson-– King Hussein of Jordan signed a pact with Egypt on May 30 1967, only a week before the war— Nasser announced: The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are poised on the borders of Israel…to face the challenge, while standing behind us are the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation. This act will astound the world. Today they will know that the Arabs are arranged for battle, the critical time is here.
Pan Arabism’s popularity began to grow after Middle East and North African countries gained independence in the 1940s and 1950s. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser (1956-1970) was a big supporter of Pan Arab nationalism. Nasser believed that the Arab world in both Northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula should be unified. It was only after the Six Day War in 1967, That Egypt’s role, as the leader of the Pan-Arab movement, was severely weakened. Other Arab nationalist organizations started to branch out on their own, independent of Egypt and other Arab countries. The Palestinians, in particular, began to form their own organization that was centered on Palestinian nationalism, and not a Pan-Arab one. Furthermore, Gamal Nasser’s sudden death in 1970, left the Pan-Arab movement without a clear leader. In 1973, Yasser Arafat (an Egyptian) became the head of the PLO’s political movement.